Steve Jobs On MobileMe: We Screwed Up

My jab last week calling MobileMe the "worst Apple product launch ever" has now gotten some validation from the top man himself: Steve Jobs.

In an internal e-mail sent to employees yesterday, Steve Jobs expressed his disappointment with the MobileMe launch:

[MobileMe is] not up to Apple's standards...

...It was a mistake to launch MobileMe at the same time as iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store. We all had more than enough to do, and MobileMe could have been delayed without consequence.

Steve Jobs also detailed what Apple could have done to launch MobileMe more smoothly, including launching each of MobileMe's services one at a time instead of all at once as a "monolithic service."

"The MobileMe launch clearly demonstrates that we have more to learn about Internet services, and learn we will. The vision of MobileMe is both exciting and ambitious, and we will press on to make it a service we are all proud of by the end of this year."

The learning has already started, with a recent restructuring of the MobileMe team following the catastrophic launch. The entire MobileMe team will now report to Eddy Cue, a former lead manager on the iTunes team. He will now lead all of Apple's Internet services, including iTunes, App Store, and MobileMe. Cue will also now report directly to Steve Jobs.

In the meantime, it seems all of MobileMe's kinks haven't been worked out yet, as one of our own readers, tmp00, has written us to tell his tale of MobileMe woe:

Oh yes, it's 100% fixed. Which is why I can't email anyone, except from my free Yahoo! account. Apple says I'm not one of the ones affected, buh-bye, you're on your own. Guess which account I will not be paying $99 for when it's up for renewal?

We're now what? 26 days after launch?

Worst. Apple. Product. Launch. Evar.

Steve Jobs: MobileMe "not up to Apple's standards" [Ars Technica]